Beginning at the end of Everything
by TheLittleBirdInTheLaurelTree
Summary: In a hidden lab a girl awakes into a world already in ruin; set a year after AC, she must struggle to survive, and endeavour to unravel her memories of who she once was, whilst in the company of the most feared and hated beings to walk the earth.
1. Chapter 1

Slowly, her eyes flickered open, resulting in a wave of excruciating blinding light. Grimacing them shut, she let out a small air bubble from the depths of her throat, which slowly tickled along the roof of her mouth and escaped her lips as a silent cry of discomfort. Cautiously this time, she strained her eyes and as they became accustomed to the light, and came to grips with her surroundings; she was engulfed and suspended in a watery liquid, she had doubts of the colour, it seemed a pale green mixed with a light blue. Beyond that she saw very little, or rather a lighter sheen of what she presumed was a glass panel an arm's length away. An arm's length away she thought, panic engulfed her and she endeavoured to move her limbs, resulting in a limp twitch of her fingers. Her legs stung with cramps alongside pins and needles, but all in all with a wave of her arms she could move. Rolling her neck she looked around; she really was suspended, below her toes hovered a good two feet from the base of the tank she was in, and above her revealed a dimmed light and a metal panel. If she could've grunted she would've, but the lack of oxygen in her lungs prevented her, instead she felt a wave of confusion wash over her being; where the hell was she? She tried to think through her hazy mind, but any thoughts that surfaced simply were too transparent to fully grasp hold of; like she was snatching at wisps of smoke.

Suddenly movement caught her eye; with a hawk like gaze she fixed onto the apparent cause of motion. Just outside of the tank, walked a tall white figure; she guessed he must be wearing a lab coat, as it was simply too ugly, and too professional a garment for any civic person to wear.

He walked with casual ease across to where a large, silver desk space sat, littered in towers of paper work. As he reached the desk, his shoulders loosened and he lazily dropped a clip board onto one of the piles; she could only guess that a small sigh had escaped his lips upon the action, as she couldn't hear a single thing coming from the room. He then raised a hand and pushed a pair of glasses he wore further up the bridge of his nose; his expression was tiresome and worn out, as though he'd worn the same face every day. She mused through the glass; this man had obviously been here for a certain length of time, perhaps months, years even, therefore he must know why she was suspended in a tank full of liquid with a mind devoid of memories as to how she got there.

Turning her attention from the man, her eyes started to adjust to focus upon the rest of the room, when suddenly it dawned on her the predicament she was in; she was held inside a large room, caged either side by long, panelled walls of metal. Below the tank a single narrow walkway lead to the opposite side where the man still stood peering at the clip board; surrounding him was an abundance of wires and pipes that ran up the length of the wall, most of which were connected to glowing monitors all set at various points in the wall, or upon similarly silver desks. The lighting was harsh at the man's end, but towards where she sat in the tank it dimmed to a dark nothingness, causing shadows to creep up the walls and along the walkway in front of her. The feel of the room was bitter and cold, but above all else, uneasy; it was although the room in its décor, was ominous.

Her face hardened, and she held back a scowl, as she then looked back upon the man; he'd finished whatever mundane task he'd been preoccupied with, and seemed to be looking her way. Surprise hit her; he was looking right her way, and she had no idea how to react. Was this the first time he'd seen her "awake" as she put it? Her face through instinct became stoic, as she hid her emotional surprise; in the current situation, he was an unknown equation in the puzzle she found herself in, she didn't know whether he was neither friend nor foe. With this simple thought, she closed her eyes, her body went limp, and she pricked her ears; better to stay hidden behind the guise of sleep than let him know she was aware of his presence.

The man could've sworn he'd seen her face move; to put it in the least performed some sort of facial movement, more so than the other numerous times he looked at her in the tank whilst she rest there sleeping. With a confused look upon his face he pushed his glasses up again, and carefully paced across the walkway towards the tank; his face now a picture of scrutiny as he tried to perceive what he thought he just seen. No, he thought, his eyes must've been playing up on him; the endless hours he sat in front of flickering monitors and left peering at reports had caused him no end of migraines, and periodical short sightedness.

As he reached the tank, he craned his neck to look upon her sleeping face; she truly was beautiful, even if she wasn't, well, fully developed yet. He stifled a chuckle at the thought. After all the other scientists had mentioned how even though her adult body had matured, and set into the strong form now in view, her body was not entirely mature, internal workings were still at play. It probably didn't help what they'd done to her either, with all the failed experiments they'd permitted, all in aid to speed up the process on which they were still waiting on. They simply didn't have time to be spent waiting, wasting resources. Well, one of the experiments had been a great success, but with dire consequences he mused, his chin resting in his hand, whilst he contemplated the memory. It had taken so much to cover it up, and even then they were barely lucky enough to get her under sedation, and come up with a quick plan to somehow reverse the effects. The plan had taken several painstaking months to come into reality, but in the end it had worked; a viable host was found, and well, now they seemed to back at the beginning again with nothing solid to work on.

Again a tired expression washed over his face; how long was this whole process going to take? And more importantly, was she going to be controllable this time? Perishing the old memories that surfaced with the thought, he looked back upon her. Still asleep it seemed. There was no need to be concerned then he thought, as he quietly turned from the tank. However, as he was just about to leave, he caught his gaze on a small heart monitor set aside the tank; the pulse was elevated above the average she gave when sedated, meaning only one thing. He slowly looked up at her form, his eyes containing a hint of surprise mixed with hurt, and his face contorted into a somewhat sour grin.

"Well, well, well. Guess we are awake then, aren't we?"

Her eyes snapped open the moment her ears caught the mocking tone he relayed; she'd heard that voice a million times over but couldn't understand why. It mattered little though; her mind was laced with visceral anger at the man now caught under her intense gaze. He simply looked back, an eyebrow raised, whether in question or rather irritancy she didn't know, but despite her intensely cold stare he seemed unfettered.

"Hmmph. Seems I'll need the tank support system checking out, again." He scoffed lightly, and lowered his hand to press a small button next to the monitor.

She stared at him with an un-impenetrable, undeniably hateful gaze, but as he raised his face again to meet it, she felt a slow chill creep across her body, and as she tried to focus her eyes on him, she felt it slowly envelope her mind; her eyelids loosened over her eyes, followed by the feeling of her face softening. She no longer felt angry, and as she drifted into darkness, she quickly forgot about the man who watched her; a wide grin plastered across his once tiresome face, as he once again pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:**

**Apologies for the late update! Totally forgot about this story entirely, luckily though I still remember where the plot had been going. :P Thanks for reviews, my first fanfic and all that jazz, so any criticism is appreciated. Wasn't entirely sure on this chapter, but it's basically a stepping stone that needed to be placed for the next one. Also let me know if you think I should break up the sentences more so it's easier to read; wasn't sure if it seemed, well, cramped. Lastly don't own anything Squeenix related.**

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><p>Kadaj sat staring blankly at the metal wall in view; it was almost mocking him, as for all his once apparent strength, he could not find a way out of the cage he was now imprisoned in. If there had been a way to discern the time from a clock or even natural light, he may've even found it humorous, but the lack of left him feeling as though he been there an eternity; it simply irritated him.<p>

Lowering his head, he sighed. He'd woken up dressed in a clinical white shirt that lacked sleeves, accompanied by white underwear, and as he recollected had first woke to the sight of the same dank wall. He should've been able to bust his way out of the situation with ease, either waiting for the right opportunity, or simple via brute strength. In reality though, he should be dead.

His posture sank as he mulled over the thought; his "brother" had seen to that once upon a time. It had been excruciatingly painful to receive the sheer overwhelming power of Cloud's final attack, though that had been nothing compared to the loneliness and anguish left after Sephiroth had failed. _He'_d failed. Maybe… if he'd been stronger, Sephiroth would've completed Mother's wish and Kadaj would've been loved by her too; maybe he would've felt at peace. Yet again, maybe if Sephiroth hadn't played with the puppet, and just slaughtered him, then it wouldn't be Kadaj feeling so utterly at fault; he'd not been fully conscious during Sephiroth's manifestation through his body and mind, but he'd felt it there, the mocking, the sheer mind numbing feeling of arrogance mixed with pure hate.

Though after Sephiroth met his demise yet again at Brothers hand, after all the pain and the final, desperate lunge at Cloud, he couldn't help but remember the peace he'd felt to simply lay there still in his arms. It had rained a similar kind of rain to that in the church; it had once made his skin crawl, like acid burning ever so mildly at his flesh, but then, it had been comforting. The soothing voice he'd heard, the kind he'd sought since his existence renewed his diminished hope, he was so certain it had been Mother, and when he felt its conscience reach out to him he couldn't help but grasp it. It'd been pure bliss to release the hold on all the pain, anger and sorrow that wrought his body, as he disintegrated into the lifestream.

But now he was back somehow feeling utterly empty; he wasn't even angry anymore, not at Brother, or the Planet, not even the humans. Well, most of them. Now he felt nothing, not even a faint connection with Mother. It had first worried him deeply, causing him to rage and lash out at his surroundings, hoping to draw someone to him that he could relieve the stress on. Though after a while, the feelings dissipated and gave way to something that discerned him more so; it had been diminutive at first, almost as though a whisper was there, hidden in the background but when he tried to focus on it was gone in an instant. It grew to a faint buzz, one that not only reverberated in the back of his skull but also under his skin. It wasn't uncomfortable nor irritating, but just simply _there._ Kadaj had given up on trying to locate its origins a while back, he knew it wasn't Mother at least, whatever it was. Though he did find that placing his back to the wall he sat against seemed to null it somehow, so this left him now sat in his current position.

He broke out of his reverie and contemplated his surroundings for the hundredth time now; he was held in a small cell, metal walls on either side, one of such bore a large metal door with no window or other weak point he could discern, and to his right lay a small bed on the cold floor. He knew there were people outside, despite not being visible due to the small meals and water that were often posted to him on a tray through a small hatch in the wall. He guessed that they must have a camera system in place somewhere in the room, to watch him, but he'd still to figure out exactly where. Another thing that would've discredited their existence at all was the complete lack of noise; he heard nothing from outside the room. Occasionally there was a low hum emitting from the door, or up through the floor, but never a sound to indicate some sort of living presence other than his own. Wherever he was at least, he could tell that it was built to hold dangerous individuals.

Suddenly the light gave out. Kadaj was plunged into darkness; his heart thrummed and he felt the familiar feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins. Had they cut the lights? This was the first time anything worthy of remembering had happened; there'd been no visitors, whether military or worse, such as the science variety, simply no tests or trails for him to endear. Yet now, could this be one of them?

He cautiously got to his feet, keeping himself hidden in silence. Making his way along the wall at a reserved pace he headed to the door's direction. Kadaj tensed as his neared where he knew the door would be; his eyes had slowly started to adjust to the darkness, but still even his vision was limited. He reached out towards the large doors edge, and upon touching the cool metal surface located the small gap  
>where if fit to the metal frame. One of the things he had paid merit to was the fact that on his side the door had no apparent handle, or means with which to open it, which meant that it would have to be pried inwards to open.<p>

He hooked his fingers around the cool edge, and cautiously pulled. It wouldn't open. It did however let out a small clicking noise that unmistakable sounded like an unlocked lock. Spurred on by the sudden click that meant only freedom, he forcefully wrenched the bulk back. It swung at him heavily, and Kadaj quickly jumped to the side to avoid being floored by it.

Loud, raucous noise hit his ear drums. He clasped his hands over his ears, and took a step back to shield himself from the onslaught; a painful grimace adorned his face.

Naturally it wouldn't have hurt, but the isolation he'd been placed in cause him to cringe at the sounds; resounding from multiple directions came bellowed shouts, clanging of metal, and reverberating above it all the sound of a siren whirred. It sounded like a viscous, uncontrollable mob.

Kadaj quickly became accustomed to the noise, and removing his hands from his head strode now casually out of his cell, a smirk on his face; the noise meant his presumptions were correct. He was being held in some kind of Prison facility, and moreover that meant dangerous people were held there too; they were probably the ones out causing the entire ruckus. It also meant that as long as they kept the guard preoccupied, he was free to bust out; to figure out what was going on and more importantly why he was walking amongst the living.

Then again, he didn't want to slink off just yet; there were a lot of _dangerous_ people on the loose, he couldn't simply let them have all the fun busting heads. Of course, he'd show them to how play; killing humans was always fun, as long as you weren't the human.


End file.
